I mentioned in the Respecting Boundaries post that a little over 2 years ago our cat Callie passed away. Callie was 17 years old, completely blind and deaf by the end. The boys were roughly 4 and 8 at the time. Callie was more my pet than theirs, simply because I’d had her since she was a kitten.

The boys immediately began requesting a new pet. Because of allergies (mine, some extended family members, and some friends) to cats, Hubby insisted that we wait 2 years and see how things went. My health improved dramatically: I only have to take allergy meds for seasonal concerns instead of daily. I love taking less medicine.

Even a year ago, I was more than ready to just go without having pets from then on. It’s really nice to not have to clean up behind a critter, and the freedom of being able to leave the house without worrying is pretty great.

That said, I see tremendous value in kids having animals. Aaaaand, I may be a bit of an animal lover myself. Since I’m not allergic to dogs, we decided to go ahead and look into getting one. We researched and pondered for months before deciding on a breed and a breeder.

Which brings me to today. This is it: the big day. We’re in Ohio, having driven here yesterday with the boys and friends. One promise we’ve made for years was that we’d take a mini-vacation to a hotel with a water park, so this was an ideal time to fulfill that commitment.

The boys are still snoozing as I type, worn out from all the playing last night. They’ll be up soon for breakfast, a game, and then 2 hours in the water park again before we head out to get our new puppy.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents of new puppies.